Contents

History

The man that would later be known as Bane was an inmate of Pena Duro, a Cuban prison meant to contain the hardest, most dangerous convicts. He was chosen as a test subject for "Project Gilgamesh", a government project to create super-soldiers with the new "super-steroid", Venom. The experiment was too successful—Bane escaped Cuba, stole the formula for Venom with him, and presumably killed everyone related to the project, as Batman stated that Bane was the only one who knew how to manufacture Venom. He then hired out his services as a freelance assassin, and eventually built his reputation to the point where he could demand five million dollars per job.[1]

Bane in his first costume

Being hired by Rupert Thorne to eliminate Batman was the job that Bane had been waiting for. In his career, Bane had become fascinated by Batman, and had studied him carefully in prison. Bane had also schemed to supplant Thorne as head of organized crime in Gotham City with the help of Thorne's moll, Candace, who sought a partnership with Bane to overthrow Thorne. Bane went about getting Batman's attention by destroying the Batmobile with his bare hands, beating Killer Croc so severely that it left Croc in traction, and kidnapped Robin. In the end, Bane came close, but just as he was about to "break" Batman, the Dark Knight jammed a Batarang into his Venom distributor, and gave him a dangerous overdose. A moment later, Batman pulled the Venom tube out of Bane's head before he suffered a fatal heart attack, then dragged him back to Thorne's office. There, he pulled off Bane's mask and taunted the crime boss to do better, and revealed Candace's treachery.[1]

When Batgirl fell under the influence of the Scarecrow's Fear Gas, a nightmare where James Gordon went mad with grief upon learning of his daughter's alter ego and cut a deal to release Bane from Stonegate Penitentiary in exchange for Batman's capture. In the final moments of the hallucination, Bane double-crossed Gordon and flung the Bat-signal at Batman, and knocked them both off of the roof of GPD headquarters before he seemingly died.[2]

Bane later returned to Gotham City with a new, and enhanced form of Venom. During Batman's unexplained absence from Gotham, Bane proposed an alliance with the Riddler and the Mad Hatter to rule the city, but this scheme was foiled by Superman (temporarily impersonating Batman) and Robin. Even though Bane was stronger than ever, he was only barely a match for Superman, until he pushed the Man of Steel too far and took a vicious beating.[3]

Unlike many other of Batman's enemies, Bane had no diagnosed mental problems, and so was usually incarcerated in Stonegate instead of Arkham Asylum.[2] Batman kept Bane's first mask and Venom tank for display in the Batcave.[5]

Sometime later, Bane was hired by the Penguin and Rupert Thorne to help protect an arms deal they had arranged with the Kaznian Military. He went up against Batman and the new vigilante, Batwoman. The fight ended aboard a Burning Cruise Liner, where the Dark Knight managed to cut Bane's Venom pump and threw him overboard into a fiery pit, but Bane survived and escaped.[4]

Later years

Bane in his later years.

Decades later, Bane's constant use of Venom had degraded his body and transformed him into a wheelchair-bound invalid, barely able to move and needing constant infusions of Venom just to stay alive. In fact, Bane became so weak that he had to trust his assistant, Jackson Chappell with the secret formula of Venom to supply and administer his Venom dependency. While Bane turned into a shadow of his former self, Chapell decided to cash in by turning Venom into easy-to use "Slappers". Bane was also indirectly and unintentionally responsible for the creation and production of Slappers, as his earlier revelation of the formula to Chappell resulted in the inwardly-corrupt man deciding to make money on the side by selling the slappers to kids. However, the new Batman stopped Chappell.[6]

Powers and Abilities

Bane was an Olympic-level athlete with immense strength, and was able to punch through a solid brick wall with little trouble even when not infused with Venom. When the Venom was injected into his brain (from a dispenser usually mounted on his arm, and fed through tubes connected to his mask), Bane achieved superhuman strength and endurance (although he was no match for Superman and was defeated by him).[1][3]

However, the Venom could be dangerous when used in excess: during their first encounter, Batman defeated Bane by triggering an overdose of the drug into Bane's head, and stopped the flow just before Bane literally burst.[1]

Bane was also highly intelligent, with a talent for planning and careful study of his target.[1]

Background Information

Bane was one of Batman's most notorious foes from the DC Comics, and achieved what none of his other foes ever did: he defeated Batman in combat, beat him into submission, and broke his back. The climax of the episode "Bane" of Batman: The Animated Series paid tribute to that scene, when Bane demanded that Batman plead for mercy, and then threatened to break him, and Croc's words that Bane would snap Batman in two were likely an allusion as well.

Bane was also one of Batman's most intelligent foes, having read extensively while in prison until he developed a genius-level intellect, and had a master's command of strategy and tactics. Rather than attack Batman directly, he engineered a mass breakout from Arkham Asylum, waited until Batman had exhausted himself from rounding up the other escapees, and could be easily beaten. He also discovered Batman's secret identity, after observing Bruce Wayne at a fundraiser and seeing the similarity of movement.

There was another reference to the original Knightfall Storyline in the Superman: The Animated Series episode: "Knight Time": Confronted by Superman (disguised as Batman), Bane commented: "I feared you had gone forever, Batman. And that would have meant I'd never feel your spine crumble in my hands".

The producers were reluctant to use him in the series, and felt that he was a gimmick character{{{1}}}[?]. This may explain the infrequency of his appearances. He never made more than one appearance in any of the series that he appeared in.